


Stories shift like water (we are the stuff of legends)

by ScarletSorceress



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fae, Because Sally won't leave me alone for one fucking fic, Changeling Ace, Fae & Fairies, Flower fairies, Gen, Just Ace and Sabo adventures, Pre-Canon, Pre-Luffy, Selkie Sabo, Selkies, Sunset Faerie Rouge, Terror Twins AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:15:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29137689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletSorceress/pseuds/ScarletSorceress
Summary: Down by the water's edge, where the waves lap the land, you can find the seal skin people, reclining on the sand. They are a secretive lot, just like you and I, but if you steal their skins, they'll surely wish to die. Treat them right my little prince, don't stray too close to see, the selkies can't be trusted, but then, neither can we.
Relationships: Portgas D. Ace & Sabo, Pre-Sabo/Portgas D. Ace
Comments: 12
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aibhilin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aibhilin/gifts).



> This is for the Amazing Aibhilin!! All mighty Deity of Prompts!!!
> 
> Seriously though, they're incredible and, if you ever want to get bitten by a plot bunny, Stereden's Discord Server is a ripe with chaos and creativity XD

In all the years his mother had lived, there was a motto she had raised him by:

Stories are always shifting. 

Fluid like water, golden like the sun; stories were ever-changing, an odd immortality that shimmered as people spoke. With every new telling, a new twist. You could never trust a story to be accurate, just as you should never take a word at face value. 

He was still learning, but he had learnt enough to know better than to trust spoken words. 

So when his mother had told him, one day, of the sealskins, he hadn't fully trusted her. Of course, she was his mother; if there was one person he could trust, it was her. But the tales she wove were almost too nonsensical to be true. 

Stories of the ocean's people, of herds of seals that could slip onto land, barefoot and dancing in the soft sand. Tales of the beauty they held, like a curse to their chests, and the skins they coveted more fiercely than a manticore coveted its nest. A deadly beauty that delighted in mischief of the murderous kind. 

"Promise me, Starlight. Promise me; you'll never follow a sealskin to the waves." 

"I can't promise that. I promise I will always come back, though." 

"That I will accept. Look at you, my Little Prince, all set for adventure already. And I now have your promises to return, don't become an Oathbreaker now." 

"Of course I won't Mom, I'm not stupid." 

He had promised her and, as her son, he knew the consequences of breaking that promise.

So why was he still tempted, when he first saw that boy?

It had been an ordinary day, as most days were for him. He had ventured further down the mountain, past the bandits that guarded the gates to the real Mt Corvo. Past the crooked tree, and the bubbling brook. Past Hibiscus and Marygold, and chased by Apple Blossom when he took too many of her flowers. He didn't mean to take so many, but they were pretty, and he wanted to show his mother the treasure he had found. 

Past all the things he knew and the things that knew him. 

He lingered along the edges, where the air turned rotten and cold. It would be a real adventure, to slip through that veil of twisted metal. One day, he would. One day, when he was stronger, strong enough to shift the way he wanted to when confronted with human greed. 

He did not venture to the jungle of trash and torment. 

But he did quietly go past it. 

Stumbling on unfamiliar roads, across unknown grasses and stones. Ace slipped further from his home, far from the reach of his mother, down to the rocks and crags that dropped into steep cliffs. 

And it was there he first saw the boy. 

At first, he had thought he saw gold glinting against the rocks, but it was actually a golden-haired child. He looked to be a similar age to Ace, but where Ace stood tall and proud, this boy sat hunched and shivering. Pale skin almost seemed to shimmer like salt upon the sand, and, as Ace watched, he realised the boy was completely naked. 

He was facing out towards the sea, longing and shame weighing his shoulders and twisting his spine. The boy looked so miserable. 

And Ace bit his lip, debating whether to call out or not. 

Misery loves company, wasn't that the old saying? 

Sure it was meant as a dark remark about how misery spreads, but Ace thought this boy really looked like he could use a person to talk to. 

And that was Ace saying that! 

Ace, who was always being encouraged to talk to the other 'children' only to be ridiculed because of what he  _ was _ . Ace, the bastard child, the only child, the abomination that his mother had brought with her to their home. What did it say about the situation, when a creature like Ace thought the rock-bound boy looked lonely? 

Ultimately, Ace did not call out that day. 

He left it, too unsure of the situation, convinced himself the child would be gone by tomorrow, picked up by his parents who probably were in a shipwreck. That would explain the lack of clothes. Even living on a mountain as he did, Ace was still dressed. 

Even with this resolution in mind, he still watched the boy for the rest of that day. And even though the boy did nothing, Ace still returned home with the thrill in his heart that accompanied an excellent adventure.

And so, when the morning rose anew, and all the flowers sang, Ace flew down the mountain once more, feet pounding hard against the path he had trod the day before. 

A curiosity had  _ burned  _ through him in the night, till it felt like sunlight flooded his veins. He had barely sat still through breakfast, taking his mother's indulgent laughter with a smile of gritted teeth. He knew he shouldn't be frustrated with his mother, but sometimes she liked to tease too much. 

Pushing thoughts of his mother's tricks away from his mind, Ace sprinted out to the cliffside he had found. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself, berating himself for letting his hopes rise so high when he had no guarantee the boy would still be there. 

But when silver eyes peered down to the rocks below, he saw the same golden-haired child, sitting exactly as he was yesterday.

Almost as though Time had turned him into a statue overnight, the boy sat silent and still as the foam crashed and roared around him. Almost as though he wasn't scared of the ocean that was threatening to sweep him into its depths. 

That bold-faced courage (or brazen stupidity) called Ace's curiosity once more, till it was all-consuming. Just who was this child, to stare down the sea as if it was a friend who had left him alone? Who was this boy, to stay crouched, naked against the unforgiving rock? 

Who was this creature, to light such a fire within Ace that his whole being  _ burned _ ? 

Ace spent a whole day there, sitting on the cliffside, staring at the boy below. Not once did he moved, and if it wasn't for the rise and fall of his chest and the way he clenched his arms tight around his knees, Ace might think the boy was dead. He was so pale...

The boy didn't seem to notice his silent observer, too enthralled with the ocean's pull. 

That was something Ace could relate to. 

His father had been of the ocean after all; a part of Ace longed to see more of it. Sometimes, he wondered if he would meet his father's spirit, out there amongst the waves. His mother told him that Roger waits between the roll and the crash, on the horizon line where the sky is clear and the water deep. It would be amazing, Ace thinks, to see that for himself. 

A thought the boy below unknowingly echoes, and so Ace watches. 

There is a feeling in his heart that refuses to let him leave. Even the few minutes, he rallied to find food seemed like an eternity. Now he supposed he knew what humans felt like when they entered where they shouldn't. Every second away from the boy seemed like torture, and every second he stared was agonising. Taught as a spring pulled too far, Ace almost wished that something, anything, would take away this tension. But there was something in him, deeper than the sea and the sky and the flames that his parents had made him into, that told him to wait. 

Wait and see what would happen. 

And so one day passed, then two, then three.

Four days of watching this child do nothing—four days of slow torture, of wishing for something just to happen. For someone as impatient as Ace could be, it was slowly driving him mad. 

"There have been some rumours," His mother told him quietly over dinner. "Rumours of a man in High Town bragging that he'd captured a Sealskin child."

"Yeah?" Ace asked, trying to come across as nonchalant. He probably failed (he really was terrible at lying to his mother), but an icy chill had driven through his stomach. 

"Hmmm," Rouge raised a delicate eyebrow at her son, warm eyes laughing at his attempts. "I know you don't go there anyway, but I'll warn you another time to stay away from High Town. Humans there will do anything to add to their egos. Honestly, they're worse than dragons that lot." 

"Do you know what happened to the Sealskin?" Ace asked, trying his best not to sound too eager. 

"No," Rouge shrugged, something in her eyes contradicting the careless action. That's when Ace realised; his mother was angry. Fury had many forms, had many outlets. But Ace had seen his mother like this once before and knew, that when Rouge was calm, wrath wasn't too far away. "No-one has seen a child in that house, so most as saying the man's a lier who skinned a seal to make himself look more impressive."

"Is that what you believe?"

"I believe," Rouge looked him over with a sigh, sweeping midnight waves away from his face. "That humans are cruel, those in High Town especially. I would not put it past them to do something like that to a child. But I also don't believe a child would have been able to escape that hell, certainly not easily." 

"So you think, if there were a kid, he'd still be in High Town?" Ace bit his lip, thinking back to the boy he had seen by the surf. It was true, escaping High Town would be no easy feat...but something inside him sang as he thought about it more and more. The hunch of those small shoulders, the lack of fear when faced with a raging sea, the naked skin...the boy could very easily be the Sealskin Child! 

"I think it's unlikely that they are not," Rouge smiled at him, ruffling his hair before collecting their dishes. "Either way, it is just a rumour. So please be careful Starlight, I don't want to hear any more rumours of little children going missing." 

"I'll be careful, Mum, I promise," Ace grinned, springing up to help her. The quicker he went to bed, the quicker the morning would come. 

He really hoped the boy would still be there the next day.

Unbidden, his mother's warnings echoed in his head. Warnings of the sealskins' flighty nature, of what they deemed a fun thing to do with sailors that tried to catch them. But those warnings were nothing in the face of his excitement. 

This could be his only chance to meet a real sealskin! 

So Ace snuggled down beneath his blankets of moonlight and moss, listening to the hum of the jungle, buzzing with thousands of wings. And distantly, carried to him by the breeze, he fancied he could hear a voice. A child, singing to the waves that had been his home. A voice he couldn't wait to meet in person. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The selkie sits on solemn sands,  
> Her hair a curtain wet.  
> She sings her songs of splendid seas -  
> A shining silhouette.
> 
> Her lily coat lies loosely strung,  
> Her shoulders slim and white,  
> She sighs with sounds of salty spray;  
> A voice of naught and night.
> 
> -seal-girl by Peter Davies

The eyes were back. 

Piercing, questioning, curious eyes that still refused to leave him alone. He wondered, briefly, what those eyes wanted before casting the thought away. What did it matter? People always wanted the same thing. The very thing he no longer had. 

Biting down with blunted teeth (and hadn't that been horrible, when he first realised how useless human teeth were), the boy worried at his lip. Fingers shook and flexed, eager yet scared as the sound of movement rang loud in his ears. 

The eyes were on the move. 

Well, human form or not, the eyes would find out quickly enough that he could still drown any who came too close to him. 

Several stones slipped away from light feet, giving the boy more to work with. His watcher was light, probably short too, judging by the time between steps. The watcher felt like the orcas in the north, a predator staring at the boy's naked back. But, he also felt like the oystercatchers, a curious bird that caught sight of a treasure and wanted to see what was inside. 

Finally, the steps stopped. A fathom away, roughly. Measurement was strange in the air. But still, plenty of space to work with if the watcher attempted to attack him. 

But instead, it cleared its throat. 

"You're gonna catch a cold sitting there like that. What are you, an idiot?" 

* * *

So, Ace wanted to kill himself. 

Crawl into a hole, cut out his wings, swallow dirt for the rest of eternity, kill himself. Not even his mother's grace could save him. 

Of all the things he had to say, why did insults have to be his first response? 

Seeing those pale shoulder tense even further, Ace was seriously contemplating just letting the sealskin drown him. If that was who this boy was. 

Which, given how he very much didn't have a cold after the week Ace spent observing him, it was looking more and more likely. 

A low, rough growl echoed from the boy in front of him. Similar to the seals he'd seen defending their territory against curious land mammals. Rolling his eyes but still taking a pointed step back, Ace held up the bundle of clothes he'd liberated from the outskirts of the Viel. Or the Terminal as it seemed to be called by the humans that lived there. 

"Here's some clothes. If you don't want people to know what you are, sitting around naked won't help." 

A low snarl, followed by a bark, shaking the boy's spine from where it jutted awkwardly out of his skin. Did he not know how to speak? 

Ace sighed, shifting from foot to foot before finally dumping the clothes next to him. Plonking himself to the ground, he started to sort through them, throwing the odd item towards the tensed child. A sock landed in sand-spun hair, a pair of shorts bounced against his back. This kid better get used to random clothes flying at him because once Ace planted himself, there was no moving him. 

Vaguely he could hear the giggling of Red Clover, the tiny babes laughing from their shelters between the rocks. Well, who asked them anyway?

Ignoring the way his neck flushed under their attention, Ace crossed his arms and scowled. The boy still wasn't answering him.

"I'm not leaving. You need to get dressed if you don't want to get caught."

The answering snarl made something in Ace snap. 

'Flame-born' they had called him once, 'the son of the sunset that burned those around her'. Well, he felt true to that name as white-hot anger surged within him. He was _trying,_ and this brat just snarls in his face! 

Fury burning hot and high within him, Ace reached out, grabbing towards the pale boy's shoulder. Only to have that shoulder slip away from his grasp as the blonde set upon him with a howl, a screaming cacophony of noise that was both wounded animal and terribly human. 

The other boy fought like a drowned man fought for air.

Scrambling, clawing, biting; a whirlwind of uncoordinated movements that screamed of desperation. And Ace, who had been brought into this world fighting for his existence, fought back. 

A flurry of fists and snarling teeth. Solid hits landing, breaking the delicate flesh underneath. At one point, they slipped against the rocks, tumbling across the stone, leaving red slowly pooling on their skin. 

They fought like the beasts in the jungle of Ace's home, ferocious and lethal, deadly to the core. But when Ace next looked into the face of his opponent, his eyes were alive with glee. 

His eyes...

Ace yelped as the boy managed to hook a leg around his ankle, a move he clearly copied off of Ace, bringing him down hard onto the rocks below. A strange, echoing laugh bubbled from the boy's chest, slapping a hand to his mouth as though to muffle himself. 

"Are you done?" Ace asked sullenly, trying to push down the awe that he felt. He had just made this stranger laugh! A giddy feeling was trying to take place in his stomach, only managing to get worse as the sealskin boy smiled at him.

"Sorry," he stuttered, unfamiliar teeth wrapping around an unknown word. He collapsed next to Ace with a strange sort of hope, interest and curiosity clear in those eyes. 

Eyes that reminded Ace so clearly of the ocean; it was like staring into waves. Shifting blues and greens that changed in a mesmerising array of shades. If there was ever any doubt before about this boy being magical, there was gone now. A human could never have such exciting eyes. 

"No harm done," Ace shrugged, belatedly realising the other boy had apologised. Tilting his head, he took in the many scratches and bruises starting to form on the boy's skin, wincing at the nasty looking one on his forehead. "Sorry about beating you up so badly."

"You did not," The sealskin replied, frowning a little as he tried to make words shape to his will. "I clearly won."

"Please," Ace scoffed, rolling his eyes. "If I had been going all out, you wouldn't even be here to argue it. You're so clumsy it's unbelievable. Have you really been doing nothing but sitting still this week?"

"You should try fighting in a body not your own," the boy snapped, his faltering words gaining fluidity the more he spoke. Almost as though he was putting rusty skills to the test once more. "See how strong you are then when humans are weak, and their teeth are useless!"

"Anyone would be weak after sitting still for ages," Ace returned, straightening up to he could face the boy better. "That's doesn't mean you have to stay weak, though. Especially if we want to get your skin back. My mother's told me stories about how cruel those people are, so we're not letting them catch you again." 

The other boy stared. Clearly confused by something Ace had said. But Ace had no idea what he could be confused by; if you wanted to get strong, you needed to train. Surely that was common sense under the sea just as much as it was on land? 

"...you want to help me?"

* * *

The eyes (no the _person,_ this boy was far more than just his eyes) blinked at him. Comprehension filled them after a few moments, but it felt like an eternity. 

Because this boy was already planning on stealing his skin back! 

Gods that dwelt beneath the waves, he wanted that so badly! He wanted to be whole once more, complete in the way he should always have been. Having his skin stolen was like a physical wound against his soul. Leaving an empty, useless, ugly _husk_ behind. 

But could he really trust what this boy was saying?

He looked like a human...but his eyes shone a bit too brightly- like moonlight through the surface of the sea. Like the man that lived between the moon and the water, always chasing where the sunset fell. 

His herd had sometimes let the children bob in the break to watch the colours burn across the sky. It was one of his favourite times of day. 

Could this boy with moonlit eyes be trusted?

"Of course," the boy snapped, almost as if he'd heard the doubts. "What happened to you was _wrong._ It was foul and vile and cruel! So I'm gonna get your skin back and beat up the one who did this to you. And I don't care if I have to do it by myself." 

Hope had been foreign to him after he had been ripped from the waves. But in this boy, he might have cause to hope again. 

"...You won't have to. I never expected a person's help..." he admitted, shrinking back from the glare on that boy's face. But, he didn't get where he was today by being easily cowed. Straightening up, he bared his blunted teeth in what he'd heard humans call a 'smile'. "But I'd appreciate it all the same."

"Right," the boy flushed, looking away towards the water as if he'd not expected acceptance. "Well, if we're going to get your skin back, it would probably be good to know each other's names. I'm Ace; I live on the mountain behind the veil. What's your name?"

"I don't have one," he replied, testing out the name of this boy in his head. Ace...it fit from what he knew of the human languages. 'One, the winning hand, the trump card' a name for a being who was unpredictable but could be counted on to win. He decided he liked that name. 

"You don't have a name?" Ace baffled, looking so confused that it was a struggle not to laugh. 

"Not in the human tongue, I don't," he explained, tracing patterns against the rocks. His name was the riptides that dragged sailors in to play; it was the caverns so far below that none expected the perfect hiding spots. His name was the deceptive breeze that turned into a hurricane at the slightest murmur. It was the red sky in the morning. 

"The closest word would be sabotage, I think."

"Sabotage?" Ace repeated, tasting the word on his tongue. It was not his name, but it was the closest he could probably find. Sabotage; to deliberately destroy, damage or obstruct. The aspect of a Chaos-Bringer. 

"That's the closest I can think of," he shrugged, trying out this 'smiling' thing again. Humans were so strange; why was baring your teeth seen as something friendly? 

"How about Sabo, then?" Ace suggested a smile of his own stretching across his face. 

Oh, that's why it was seen as something friendly. Ace's smile sent warmth through his veins like he had just found a sun current and could bask without pulling himself onto the rocks. He wanted to curl up in this feeling and never leave. 

Sabo, huh?

"I think I like Sabo," he grinned, testing out the name in his mind. Ace had just given him a name! And it was a name from his actual name, not a title given in misguided cruelty. Not like _his_ name had been. 

"Well, _Sabo_ ," Ace couldn't stop his smile, raising the material he had thrown at Sabo earlier. "You need to get dressed if you don't want that bastard to find you again. The more you look like a normal kid, the less he's gonna be able to find you." 

Sabo reached across for the material, _clothes,_ he was sure they were called. But how did they work? He began to sort through them, jolting at the different textures and very aware of Ace's eyes on his face. He didn't think he'd ever be rid of the feeling of Ace staring at him; he was too used to it now. Somehow, he didn't mind that as much as he might have last week. 

Immediately shying away from anything too big, he found some kind of short trousers that looked like the sky. He needed Ace's help to get them on, struggling with the nature of having two legs, but he was pleased to note he got the t-shirt right on his first attempt. Until Ace pointed out it was back to front, but honestly, it was black; why did it matter which way was on his front? 

"It's very different," Sabo mumbled, clenching his fingers in the baggy fabric of his shorts. 

"…what is?" Ace asked after a moments pause. He offered Sabo a hand, helping him to his feet. Sabo clutched Ace's hand like a lifeline, too unsure on shaking legs, wobbling slightly as he stood. He had never been so _vertical_ in his life. At least, not without the ocean supporting him. Thankfully, Ace didn't seem to mind being his ocean whilst on land, grabbing his elbows to keep him upright. 

"Getting _dressed_. It's not like with my skin…" Sabo admitted, shame flushing through him as he contemplated what he was. A selkie without a skin. Oh, his mother would be so angry if she saw him now. She would have stormed the coast to skin the man who did this in retribution. 

"…I thought it would be the same," Ace admitted sheepishly, helping him with the buckles on the boots. His feet felt trapped, squished between thick socks and solid soles. But he also didn't realise how cold he was until Ace hissed from feeling his feet fingers. Toes, Ace called them, but Sabo thought that was a stupid name. They were fingers on your feet. Or were your fingers suddenly hand toes? 

Human bodies made no sense. 

"Not really. My skin is a part of me," Sabo admitted, feeling strange having to explain the difference. All he knew was other selkies. Ace was a complete unknown to him. So, of course, their knowledge was different. "When I put it on, there's no difference between skins. I have feet, and _then_ I have my flippers. There's no, 'I have my feet, _and_ I have my flippers on top'…sorry, I'm not making much sense, am I?" 

"You're making more sense than you think." 

* * *

Ace was thinking of his mother, how her wings could appear and disappear at her will. But they were still a part of her. There was never a point where Ace thought she didn't have her wings. Even when he couldn't always see them. 

Suddenly, he wanted his mother to meet this sealskin. She would know what to do to help him. Both with using a body he wasn't familiar with and in getting his skin back. 

His mother had always helped him whenever he felt trapped by bones and flesh that itched to _change._

But looking at _Sabo_ (he had been so thrilled when he chose Ace's name. Names were so important, and he wanted this boy to have the best), he couldn't bring himself to ask. 

He had clearly stayed by the sea because that was his _home_. The one place he still felt safe in this unfamiliar reality he had been set adrift in. How could Ace tear him away from that so soon? He had only just introduced himself! 

Surely this wasn't how friendship was supposed to work. 

Every other friend he had tried to make had taken weeks of effort and pain and ridicule. 

…But there was something different about Sabo. 

"…Would you like to meet my mother?" he finally asked, hesitantly hopeful. His hope growing as, instead of shying away, Sabo seemed to think on it. 

"Is she the leader of your pod?" Sabo asked, a curious keen in his voice. "I don't know how pods work amongst humans, but I assume you mean to ask for her help?" 

"Pods? Do you mean the court?" Ace clarified, trying to wrap his head around the words. "She's the leader of the sky court that dwells on the horizon if that is what you mean?" 

"She is not human?"

They seemed to be talking each other into circles here. Probably not helped by Ace not explaining himself. But, when all your life you've been humiliated and belittled for being what you are, he thought it was understandable that he didn't want to talk about it. 

"No," Ace said shortly. Wanting to get this over with as soon as possible, he rushed through his explanation. "She's a faerie of the sunset, but she came to live here when she had me. Said I needed to grow on the ground before she returns to the sky." 

"At least she didn't leave?" Sabo offered, thankfully not appearing offended by his snapping tone. "For pups to grow strong, we're often left after our third migration. Perhaps our mothers will keep us in the pod, but it's more common for us to branch out and find our own pods to bring back to the main." 

"So you don't get to see your mother very often?" Ace asked, trying to assimilate the new information to what he had been told of the sealskins before now. 

"I'm lucky; my mother kept me and my sister together," Sabo admitted, a rueful little grin spreading against his will. "Said we were too much trouble to go off on our own just yet." 

"Is your sister, alright?"

Unbidden, images of a girl in chains flashed through Ace's brain. What he imagined Sabo had gone through before he got away. 

"She managed to get to the sea before he caught me," Sabo looked down at his lap. A thousand thoughts swam in those shifting eyes. Worry, fear, shame, relief, regret; it hurt somewhere in Ace's heart to see him so weighed down. Like an anchor had tethered him to the shore, keeping him trapped on the sand. 

"Well, hopefully, she'll stay away, so we don't need to worry about her whilst we get your skin back," Ace mused, not really sure what he could do to make Sabo feel better. 

He had never had friends or siblings. What was he supposed to do? 

Red Clover was giggling at him again. He was not looking forward to going home today; those pesky flowers were such gossips! Who knows what story his mother was going to be told by the time Ace made it back up the mountain? 

"I don't think we'll be that lucky," Sabo sighed, shaking his head. "It's not in her nature to leave someone behind. Especially not someone she cares about." 

"… What's her name?" Ace leaned forward, eager to hear what Sabo would come up with for his sister. He was also beyond curious as to what their names might sound like in their mother language. And how that language translated into his own. After all, how did you get a name like 'Sabotage' in the first place? 

"… It's difficult for her…" Sabo admitted, frowning as he mulled over words. "Depending on her mood, she's either Salvage or Salvation." 

"How can you tell the difference?" Ace blinked, thinking between those two words. There wasn't a lot between them that he could tell. 

"…Her name is…" He makes a broken kind of creek, echoing strangely in the still air. Clearly frustrated, Sabo flapped his hands around, scowling. "It's the sound of treasure in shipwrecks that demand our attention. But it's also the sound of chains rusting and breaking. So, depending on the situation, she's either Salvaging something or the Salvation to someone…" 

"And what does your name sound like?" Ace asked before he could stop himself, captivated by the haunting sound the other boy had just spoken. 

Sabo flushed, fidgeting in Ace's hold before looking him straight in the eyes. Seemingly calmed by what he saw there, Sabo proceeded to speak. But what came from his lips was no sound Ace had ever heard before. 

It started quiet, a slight hum that got louder and louder until it almost hurt to hear, like a sudden thunderstorm capable of breaking apart ships and mountains alike—a dangerous sound. 

And Ace could finally see how Sabotage could be a name. 

"Wow," he breathed, staring in awe. "Sealskin names sound really strong." 

"Sealskin?" Sabo tilted his head, confused. A strong gust of wind blew the salt spray onto their arms, and Ace began to lead him away from the shore. He needed to get him to a sheltered spot, at least. 

"Yeah, is that not what you are?" He asked, thinking back to all the conversations he'd had with his mother. She'd always called them Sealskins. Was that not what they were? 

"…We are Selkie…" Sabo looked at him strangely, clearly, he'd never heard the term 'Sealskin' before. And 'Selkie'? Ace was determined to remember that. He wouldn't call this boy something he didn't like. He knew all too well how much bigotry stung. 

"Selkie got it." Ace affirmed, tasting the new word on his tongue. It tasted like salt from the ocean's edge, an invitation to the depths made in braying laughter. 

"What about you?" Sabo asked, mimicking Ace's football as they steadily climbed back to the sheltered section of the cliffs. "What do you call people like you?" 

"…that depends on who you ask…" Ace muttered bitterly. 

_' Fae-born',' Cursed Child',' Wingless One'' Half-born'._

You name it; Ace had been called it at some point in his life. In snide voices from the rest of the courts, in pitying murmurs by the serving fae, in jeering laughter by others his age. 

"I'm asking you, aren't I?" 

Ace turned to look at Sabo, taken aback by his honesty. There was no judgment to be found in the shifting sea of his eyes. No harsh cliffs in the scene of his face. Just mild confusion and a slight reprimand. As if Ace should already know that his opinion was the only one that mattered to Sabo. 

And so, on the cliff between his mountain and Sabo's ocean, Ace let his truth spill forth. For the first time, he gave up his name in trust to this boy who seemed to care. 

_"Shifting and twisting, there are many shapes I can take._

_Mayhem and mischief are mine to make._

_I'm the Ace of all hands, yet a shameful thing._

_I'm the creature of ruin they call 'Changeling'."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it was certainly longer than the last chapter XD
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has given this story kudos, a comment, and a sub; seeing that you all are invested in this little story makes me so happy! 
> 
> I probably won't be able to update on a more regular schedule since real life is a bitch but I'll try and get these chapters out on the 1st of every month from here on out. Thanks for sticking with me!

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully the next chapter will be a little longer XD


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